Servings Per Verse: Unknown
ESV
by abolishing the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace.
*ETS:
The Jew / Gentile division focused primarily on the law of God. Jews observed the law, but could not obey it completely. Gentiles were non-observers - they had no connection with the law and broke it without concern. The law separated Jew from Gentile. However, according to the law, both Jew and Genitle were sinners, (therefore the law separated both, Jew and Gentile, from God). Jesus, having been made flesh, fulfilled the law, and though he was holy, paid the penalty for sin. In his body the law's demands were met and sin's debt was paid. Christ offers Jew and Gentile a new life - a life where sin's debt has been paid, holiness is bestowed forever, and the peace of God guides all relationships.
*DTFTD:
The ETS for today's devotion is more the essence of the text in summary, than the essense of the text in a sentence. Paul's divinely inspired statements are all-encompassing truths centered on God's grace and goodness in the Gospel of Christ. The believer should never forget Jesus suffered the penalty of sin, though he never sinned, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him (II Cor. 5:21). When we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior we become new creations (II Cor. 5:17). We are no longer Jews or Gentiles, bond or free, we are HIS! In the beginning, God, through Christ (John 1:3), created man, not by speaking him into existence, but by forming him with his hands (Gen. 2:7). Jesus came to perform one more miracle in creation. With his hands nailed to the cross, Jesus created a new man, a crucified man. On the third day he breathed life into the new man and in resurrection Jesus became the first born of many new creatures! (Rom. 8:29). The new man, the new creature, is crucified to the world, resurrected to God's kind of life, and is ever living in the power of God through Christ.
*EDS:
Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace, Freely bestowed on all who believe; You that are longing to see His face, Will you this moment His grace receive? Grace, grace , God's grace, Grace that will pardon and cleanse within; Grace grace, God's grace, Grace that is greater than all our sin.
"Grace Greater Than Our Sin" Julian H. Johnston, 1849-1919.
INGREDIENTS: The work of Christ in creating a new man. Word Study: Jesus was God and man, the new man Jesus creates is the Christian - God in man. The Christian is not God, rather he has been made one with God by the work of Christ.
*ESV- English Standard Version; ETS- Essence of the Text in a Sentence; DTFTD- Devotional Thought For The Day; EDS- Essence of the Devotional in a Sentence.
